I realize that the software probably shouldn't have disabled UAC out of the box without at least informing the user, but having worked on some out-of-process COM applications (yes, legacy) in Windows Vista/7/8/10, UAC can be extremely frustrating. The biggest issue is that having UAC on creates a different user context between user and admin. If I execute a program as myself with admin privileges, it is not exactly the same as executing the program as myself without admin privileges.

For example, if your user with admin priveleges creates a COM component, that component may not be able to be accessed by a non-admin context even though your user may be in the local administrators group, DCOM Users group, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if LG ran into a COM issue with Windows and decided to make the program for reliable for the user by disabling UAC instead of resolving the problem in a different way.

Wow, so insightful. I never thought to "...destroy the current internet and rebuild it -- but without all the bullshit." Praise our savior who will save us from websites that cannot compel you to visit them.

Where can I sign up for your newsletter? I expect you will need my mailing address since you predict that "half of humanity" (including the half that lives in poor conditions that may not have any experience with the internet?) may have "...decided that the internet just isn't worth it."

mpicpp writes: Microsoft just took another big step toward the release of Windows 10 and revealed it will be free for many current Windows users.

The company unveiled the Windows 10 consumer preview on Wednesday, showcasing some of the new features in the latest version of the operating system that powers the vast majority of the world's desktop PCs. The developer preview has been available since Microsoft first announced Windows 10 in the fall, but it was buggy, limited in scope and very light on new features.

Importantly, Windows 10 will be free for existing Windows users running versions of Windows back to Windows 7. That includes Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows Phone. Microsoft specified it would only be free for the first year, indicating Windows would be software that users subscribe to, rather than buy outright.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Operating Systems Group Joe Belfiore showed off some of the new features in Windows 10. While Microsoft had already announced it would bring back the much-missed Start Menu, Belfiore revealed it would also have a full-screen mode that includes more of the Windows 8 Start screen. He said Windows machines would go back and forth between to two menus in a way that wouldn't confuse people.

Belfiore also showed a new notification center for Windows, which puts a user's notifications in an Action Center menu that can appear along the right side, similar to how notifications work in Apple OS X.

Microsoft Executive Vice President of Operating Systems Terry Myerson revealed that 1.7 million people had downloaded the Windows 10 developer preview, giving Microsoft over 800,000 individual piece of feedback.

Myerson explained that Windows 10 has several main intents: the give users a mobility of experience from device to device, instill a sense of trust in users, and provide the most natural ways to interact with devices.Link to Original Source

So what's the answer? And don't put it on "brilliant engineering minds" to figure something out for you. Tell us what a good, economical, and environmentally sound option should be.

1. Renewables? A massive decrease in the cost of petroleum does not make the economics of renewables, especially solar, more attractive.2. Nuclear? Good luck convincing regulatory bodies, the population, and environmentalists that's the best way to go. Besides, nuclear waste is a real problem, and we are in the perpetual state of "a few years more" to achieving the fast breeder reactors.3. Fusion? Not technically possible right now, but you never know, maybe with "another 10 years" and we'll have it.4. Force demand to be lower by using quotas or raising electricity price artificially? Yay, big government regulation causing dramatic changes in how people will live their lives. I'm sure everyone will just love being told to stop using heaters in the winter and air conditioners in the summer.5. Carbon tax? Yay, big government regulation. Guess who profits from "carbon exchanges?" Goldman Sachs.6. Kill off tons of people thereby reducing energy demand? Go for it, Mr. Eugenics. Just remember, killing people also takes energy expenditure in one way or another.

I disagree with some of the pretenses here primarily that higher level math directly equates with a better performing student. I went to grad school for chemical engineering with 1/3 US students and 2/3 foreign all from China and India, and I will agree that their skills when it came to even engineering math (e.g. calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, numerical analysis) all surpassed what I and other domestic students knew.

But I think this is because of a fundamental difference in evaluating what problems are important. During my undergrad, memorization for a test was thought to be a pointless task and not worth doing (because in the real world, you can use Google, textbooks, whatever you want to accomplish the goal). Tests were structured to require extra thinking, problems could be formulated in a completely different way than found in the homework, or worse, the questions could nigh-unsolvable and require the student to explain how they would go about solving it if they weren't able to. However, in grad school, most of my tests relied on memorization of certain fundamentals and derivation methodologies to succeed. Guess which group performed better on that?

But what about skills that are not so easy testable? Like communication? Or thinking about a problem outside the box and not approaching it from the exact same way as everyone else? Many modern engineering problems are not just solved by use of complex mathematics; formulation of a problem, simplifying the problem where appropriate, solution methodologies, thinking about time constraints, monetary concerns, interactions with less technical people, and communication of results are all part of my daily job. Solving a problem using personal knowledge of PDE's may help occasionally, but knowing how to use tools when appropriate and knowing how to communicate is worth far more ultimately.

The idea that we're "soon" to have invisibility cloaks that are both omni-directional *and* handle visible light is an unfounded one. True, maybe the underlying foundations are set well and the science is understood. But here's the issue: metamaterials ("invisibility cloaks" as a rule, fall into this category since they're properties are determined by the structure of the materials - not the material itself) have specific patterns in the structure. Microwave radiation has a wavelength between 1 mm and 1 m. Visible light has a wavelength of 390 to 750 nm. We are talking about four orders of magnitude.

The structure of the metamaterial needed to handle visible light is going to be out of our reach for quite some time until we can design a better way of handling structural details on the nanoscale and beyond (right now, the best methods are self assembled, and those methods usually aren't good for the massive complexity you'd desire).

dsinc writes: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced the winner of its five-year competition to select a new cryptographic hash algorithm, one of the fundamental tools of modern information security.

The winning algorithm, Keccak (pronounced “catch-ack”), was created by Guido Bertoni, Joan Daemen and Gilles Van Assche of STMicroelectronics and Michaël Peeters of NXP Semiconductors. The team’s entry beat out 63 other submissions that NIST received after its open call for candidate algorithms in 2007, when it was thought that SHA-2, the standard secure hash algorithm, might be threatened. Keccak will now become NIST’s SHA-3 hash algorithm.Link to Original Source

brocket66 writes: The latest Kantar Worldpanel market share numbers show that cheap Android devices from Samsung, LG, Motorola, Huawei and ZTE are driving a market share surge for the Android OS. In Mexico, Android’s share of the smartphone market has zoomed from 19% to 37% in a year. In Brazil it’s gone from 20% to 47%.

At the same time, iOS market share grew from 2% to 6.2% in Brazil, but actually declined from 8.6% to 4.7% in Mexico. Android vendors have recently gone on a price cutting binge in Latin America, slashing prices of smartphones to well below 300 reals in Brazil. The iPhone pricing in Brazil levitates around 2’000-3’000 reals.Link to Original Source

And what favors would those be to Saudi Aramco or Gazprom? I won't deny that the US has its fair share of corruption, but to say that our government goes out of its way to throw favors at foreign companies just because they are in a "powerful industry" seems like a long shot to me.

If you can prove it on either one of those two *huge* companies getting favors from the federal government, I'll buy it. I'll admit that I was wrong and apologize for being so misguided.

Haha, so they come to the US to ask for help about acidizing wells, new drilling methodologies, and completions... Just because we are a large market for it?

You know what? Let's say you're right. I hope in the future, when you are trying to figure out how to start up a very productive farm, you mosey your way on over to China and get their help on all the best techniques (because, of course, they are the largest market for food in the world). You mind as well go over there for all your electronics needs as well. Heck, I bet you can't wait to pick up the new Huawei smartphone. I mean, they have to be the best in the world since they're the largest market, right?

Just another alarmist that doesn't know what the heck is he talking about.

True, the patent system for software is completely hosed up. But to say, "Innovation is dead in this country," is just you talking out of your ass.

There are plenty of companies in many other facets of science and engineering that are doing just fine by staying in the states (not to mention having some of the best schools in the world plus lots of very good ones). As an example, why do international companies in the petroleum industry routinely do business in the states? Oh wait, is it because innovation is dead? No, it's because we have some of the very best technology and great minds to advise companies all over the world.

"...living 'against the clock' may be a factor contributing to the epidemic of obesity..."

You have to be kidding me. So they found a correlation? Yippie. I can find the correlation between number and pirates and global warming. Means nothing.

What's worse is that they don't even try to explain what's really going on here. Is it that metabolism is slower when things are out of order from circadian rhythm? Where are the citations for that suggestion? Is it actually a true case of causation with experimental evidence in biochemistry, or more regressions and "it looks this way, but we have no idea so here's a paper on it anyway" type of thing?

Or is it so much more simple? Maybe like... People are eating more calories than they burn?! No way! Common sense just can't come into play ever. Maybe people feel more hungry with less sleep! Oh goodness! Let's do a double regression on chronotypes and amount of sleep so that we can submit another paper and get more funding!

This argument seems analogous to "graphics in games are not photorealistic therefore I am not immersed as much as I wish therefore it's not worth my time to enjoy the game."

I would love to hear your reason as to why you hate having choices yanked out of you in a limited game. I mean, do you honestly expect an "interactive fiction" where you can make any decision that you possibly could want? Golly what if someone is a pacifist and doesn't want to go blow up virtual aliens? What if someone wants to be a psycho and kill all major characters? Do you expect the game makers to have thought of every stupid thing a person could want to do and develop an individual story with voice overs and endings to all?

Limited time. Limited money. Limited technology. There is no way to feasibly construct some game that is both a sandbox (allowing you to do whatever you feel like) and story driven (to actually be told a unique story) at the same time given our current abilities in game making. Either you have your expectations so high it's not even funny, or you are going to cite some shitty 8-bit game of "amazingness" that is 100 times better than anything today because it "let you do anything you wanted."

Haha, of course, I forgot that they're already supposedly using Zinc oxide as the original reactant. My foolish mistake. Still, I wish I could find the academic paper to get a better idea than some news report.